After a British vote to remain in the EU the UK and the EU face a choice. They can go back to business as usual, with the EU lurching from crisis to crisis while the British criticise from the sidelines. Or backed by a renewed mandate from the British people, David Cameron can get back on the pitch, motivate the team and start scoring goals for Britain and Europe.

The Centre for European Reform’s strong squad have mapped out how and where Britain could have the greatest positive influence on the EU in a new policy brief ‘Europe after Bremain: Time for good team players‘. The UK in the EU should:

• Push for effective EU foreign policy to deal with challenges from Russia and China.
• Work with other leading member-states to stabilise Europe’s southern and eastern neighbourhood through a combination of security operations, political engagement and free trade.
• Help to tackle the migration crisis, encourage the resettlement of refugees direct from regions in conflict – and take in more refugees itself.
• Use its expertise to help strengthen EU law-enforcement and intelligence capabilities in the fight against terrorism.
• Encourage the EU to strengthen defence co-operation and defence industrial competitiveness and innovation.
• Work on integrating Europe’s gas and electricity grids better to increase efficiency and energy security and decrease carbon emissions.
• Reinvigorate EU efforts to extend the single market in services – the capital markets union could be a model for this approach.
• Influence the way that the Eurozone deals with monetary policy and financial regulation, as Europe’s largest financial centre
• Promote closer co-operation between national parliaments and the European Parliament, to increase the democratic legitimacy and political accountability of the EU.

Other member-states may doubt that Britain can ever be a fully committed member of the Union. Cameron needs to prove them wrong, and show that the UK can achieve much more as a fully committed member of the EU team than kicking a ball against a wall on its own.